Job Report Should Boost Fed’s Plan to Hike Rates This Year

U.S. Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 203,000 jobs in September, which should further support Fed plans to raise interest rates soon.
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Job Report Should Boost Fed’s Plan to Hike Rates This Year
Workers paint the Julien Dubuque Bridge along U.S. 20 in Dubuque, Iowa, on Aug. 24, 2015. Dave Kettering/Telegraph Herald via AP
Peter Morici
Updated:

On Friday the U.S. Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 203,000 jobs in September. The data should further support Federal Reserve plans to raise interest rates before the end of this year.

Bouncing back from a harsh winter, GDP grew at a 3.9 percent annual rate in the second quarter. For the balance of this year and next, growth is expected to moderate to 2.5 percent to 2.8 percent, but that is still considerably better than the first six years of the economic recovery.

Despite stock market jitters and manufacturing hard hit by a strong dollar and retrenchment in the oil sector, consumer spending continues to increase at a strong pace.

Overall household balance sheets are in their best shape since the recovery began.
Peter Morici
Peter Morici
Author
Peter Morici, professor at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, is a recognized expert on economic policy and international economics. Previously he served as director of the Office of Economics at the U.S. International Trade Commission. He is the author of 18 books and monographs and has published widely in leading public policy and business journals including the Harvard Business Review and Foreign Policy. Morici has lectured and offered executive programs at more than 100 institutions including Columbia University, the Harvard Business School and Oxford University.
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